Thoughtful Thursdays - The Internal Sale

Whether you are a sole proprietor doing it all, or an employee in a large corporation with responsibility for a sales territory there there will come a time when your customers will ask for a product or service you are not currently supplying to the market place.

As a sales professional you want to keep your customer happy, and look forward to increasing your sales. Before you can offer the new product or service you will need the approval from the powers that be. This is the internal sale.

The internal sale is as important as the new sale to your customer. Before saying yes, you will want to know if it is going to be worth it, in other words, will it be profitable.

In the words of Peter F. Drucker: "There is nothing more useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all."

Here is a partial list of what to think about considering before approaching your business for a decision:

• What is the sales potential at the customer?
• Will sales transfer to your other customers?
• How much will it cost to develop?
• How long will it take to commercialize?
• Will there be external resources required?
• What are the expected margins?
• How long is the pay back?
  

Good selling,
Richard

Thoughtful Thursdays - "I'm working my website..."

If had a dollar for every time I have heard a new business owner say that they have not been able to achieve promotional or sales targets because they had to work on their website or design brochures... well you know the rest of this line.

I understand that many start-up businesses are on tight financial budgets. I also understand that with the way technology is today, most anyone can design and their own materials.

I have difficulty understanding why it appears, based on their behaviour, so many new business owners feel their value proposition - the reason people will buy from them - is their website or brochure. I am not including e-commerce businesses in this today's thought as it is a given that a website will be in place for an e-commerce business launch.

This is not to say that a website is not important, the point is this: should you be doing the work if it you are not an expert?

Here's a thought: How about having your customers pay you for your products/services and using the profits to hire a professional to design and develop your website?

Allocate your most valuable resource, time, to promotion and sales activities. The sooner you make sales, the sooner you will be able to hire a web firm and get the website you want.

Good selling,
Richard

Is Self-Employment For You?

If you had to make a decision about accepting a project with significant upside and knew the following before making the commitment:

• It was going to cost you more than you estimated
• The return on your investment would not be as high or as fast as you thought
• The project would take much longer to get off the ground than you estimated
• The level of work required would be much more than you thought
• You would have to spend more time on non-enjoyable tasks than anticipated

Would you still take the project on?

If you answered yes, maybe self-employment is for you. Contact our Advisor on Call and find out how TBDC can assist you in all phases of a business start up.

Richard

Wise Wednesdays - Where's the Beef?

I’ve read over 300 business plans to date and counting. My biggest beef is that most business plans don’t have any! Where’s the beef? People write 16 pages on the industry scope, fancy pie charts and complex cash flow and income statements. However, many miss the mark on one key question: How will they get and keep clients?

The first part of the question addresses a comprehensive Marketing plan. In this section many just lack the details. It is far more beneficial to list particulars of a networking strategy i.e. where you will network on a weekly basis, why this makes sense, who you will approach and what follow up system you will use then it is writing out a shopping list of all the 101 marketing activities you will supposedly do.

Less is more. Just be thorough.


The second part of the question addresses value: What the client actually buys. Many business plans skirt the issue. It’s not just about how “different you are”. After all I can put on a purple tiara on my head and be “different” but will people buy from me? Value is a combination of quality, customer service, the perceived value in the customer’s mind, the experience of the interaction and how you meet customer expectations.

What will you do to create compelling value? Be clear. Be detailed. Go deep. I want some beef!

Cheers,

Dominik

Thoughtful Thursdays - Competitive Pricing

Sooner or later we all encounter competitive pricing situations, this is a given for most any business.

How you handle the situation can have a significant impact, not only on your own sales results, but potentially in the market place you are participating in.

What do you do when a prospect tells you that your prices are not competitive? My first recommendation is to accept the information as true and secondly, avoid the temptation to immediately meet the competitive sitiation.

Is your propect comparing apples to apples? Here are a few points to consider:

• Volume of sales
• Delivery times
• Terms and conditions of sale
• Quality and performance
• Customer service
• Who is the competition?
• What is the price gap and is it beleivable?

How else might you validate the claim of lower price in the market place?

• Ask your existing customers if they have heard anything from your competition
• Ask your other prospects if your prices are competitive
• Ask the prospect to provide supporting documentation of the competitive situation

What you do not want to do is be the low price provider if that is not your strategy, especially if you do not have the lowest costs.

What you do want to do is validate the competitive situation before making any commitments. Everyone wants a better price, can you afford to leave money on the table? That can easily happen if you meet a competitive situation without having all the facts.

If you are new to the industry or not yet a major player, an established competitor will outlast you in a price war, so avoid starting one.

There are situations where you may not be able to compete, accept it and move on.

Good selling,
Richard

Wise Wednesdays - Two Clients Start a Business...

Two clients start a business…

Client A, a graphic designer, focuses on developing the latest and greatest website, spends time on Facebook, Twitter, develops a blog, occasionally network and rarely calls on new businesses.

Client B, also a graphic designer, focuses on networking consistently and calling businesses directly, and develops a simple but effective website, uses Facebook occasionally and has held off doing a blog and Twitter.

Client B is in business today. Client A has had to close shop.

The lesson: The order, the amount of energy and consistency you devote to the proper marketing activities will determine your success.

With all the hype about Twitter, Facebook and websites I feel too many entrepreneurs miss doing the most important things first.

Not that you shouldn’t do online activities – it’s just that the majority of your energy should be invested in activities that pay off in the long run.

Later on you can ramp up and have that marvelous website, and develop a great blog, Twitter etc BUT only after you’ve invested heavily in activities where you are face-to-face with your potential clients. Make this your priority.

Marketing is much more about investment, persistence, consistency then it is about glitz or because you believe everyone is doing “it”.

Happy prioritizing.

Dominik

Thoughtful Thursdays - How Well Do You Know Your Competition?

In my experience, the more you know about your competition the stronger your business can be.

Knowing your competition is more than being aware that they exist. Do you know:

• who the principals are?
• their products and services, and have you evaluated them?
• what their annual sales are?
• how they approach the market?
• their strengths and weaknesses?
• where they are located?
• who their customers are and why they deal with them?
• what their customers think of them?

Knowing as much about your competition as you do about your customer will help position yourself as an industry expert and 'go to' person.

When you are looking for a product or service who do you go to first and why?

Good selling,
Richard